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Robert Benfer
'''Robert Leon Benfer, Jr. (born on December 18, 1987), better known by his pseudonym Knox, is an internet-based claymator, animator, musician, director, producer, writer, editor, and actor.' Stats '''Height: 5'11' Weight: Likely (125lbs to 172lbs) Early life Benfer was born on December 18, 1987, in Hinesville, Georgia. His father, Robert Benfer Sr., was a detective, author, and soldier, perhaps most famously known as the author of the book ''Silently We Defend, and was based at Fort Stewart during this period. In 1988, Benfer and his wife, Janeese Schoelzel, moved to Germany, where his sister Nikki was born. At age 2, Benfer's parents got divorced and he moved alongside his mother and sister to Kerrville, Texas. In 1994, Benfer's mother became engaged to Curtis Schoelzel, and moved to Schertz, Texas, where Robert spent the remainder of his childhood and Benfer and Schoelzel gave birth to Jakki Schoelzel and Jill Schoelzel. Robert was also diagnosed with a condition that has the potential to cause him cancer and as a result has been hospitalized multiple times over the course of his early life and teenage years while he was in the beginning stages of his career. Career Newgrounds films In 1995, Benfer began to attend Schertz Elementary School. While attending the institute, Benfer met Sammie Penrod, who would become his close friend and costar in many of his films. At age 6, Benfer acquired an interest in filmmaking and from age 7 to 12, used his parents' video camera to film short films alongside his sister, Nikki. At age 15, Benfer would develop an interest in stop motion by watching Celebrity Deathmatch, which would later inspire him to make tributes to the show known as "NG Deathmatch", and he began to post claymation short films on animation outlet Newgrounds, going under the pseudonym "Knox". His pseudonym was largely influenced by childhood friend Sammie Penrod, who originally suggested in high school that the two would form a band entitled "Stigma". However, Benfer pointed out that they "never made any music", prompting Penrod to suggest changing the band name to "Knox"; however, the concept was quickly dropped by the two. Several of Benfer's early films were notable for starring clay characters resembling blue humanoid blobs. Although these designs were initially used for practice, their popularity among the Newgrounds community prompted him to make it his trademark. Another notable style of Benfer was his tendency to replace the letter "c" with a "k" (for example; his claymations were billed as "klaymations"). These small animations were the first of many Knox clay animations. At this time, there were very few clay animations on Newgrounds.com, as Newgrounds was accommodating to animations rendered entirely within Flash, the software the website singularly supported. Because of this, Robert was able to open a whole new door for future stop motion creators all over the internet, and hundreds of people followed in his footsteps, many becoming popular, though Knox maintained his reputation as the leader of the movement. He posted 45 short films on the Internet in 2003, and won 35 awards for them on Newgrounds. In 2004, Benfer created some of his most successful clay animations, including Glass of Water, Sniper Time!, and Rubber Ducky of Death. His first attempt at turning his internet success into a career was releasing a DVD of his short films entitled Knox in a Box. Feature films At the end of 2004, after the success of his first DVD, Benfer decided to adapt his series into a feature length movie entitled Klay World: Off the Table. The film was released in 2005, and earned him over $80,000.00, marking the beginning of his professional film career. The KlayWorld shorts degraded in quality and would eventually be regarded as bland and repetitive by his original fan base. Although the general formulae remained relatively the same, the overall mood has drastically shifted from being based around slapstick to almost strictly dialogue. Another detail that could have contributed to the shift in the series was the fact that in all of his shorts prior to KlayWorld: Off The Table, Robert never scripted any given episode but rather animated them and delivered improvised voice acting during post production. Between 2005 and 2008, Robert would announce several other feature length films as the releases of his online animations became increasingly scarce. The first of these movies was Villain, a more professional clay animation movie. Robert initially began work on this film by producing two minutes of footage on his own. He was then offered a larger crew, professional actors, a studio and funding for the movie. The deal fell through when Robert suffered massive financial losses as a result of not filing the income tax's of KlayWorld: Off The Table's profit to the I.R.S. and as a result had lost a large fraction of his money, although the exact amount was never confirmed, it's been rumored to be $50,000. The loss forced him to put the project on a long term hiatus. Robert simultaneously announced plans for a sequel to Klay World: Off The Table, entitled "Klay World 2". He intended this film to be the end of the Klayworld series and stated the release date as late 2008. Productions ended with the creation of the YouTube partnership Program which allowed him to be paid directly for his shorts. Having a new motive to continue the series, he cancelled the film. In 2008, Robert announced his first live action movie, Lakeside has no Lake. This was to be about a group of friends who set up a website claiming that their hometown, Lakeside, was haunted. Robert tweaked the plot and it became Joe Cam, a film about a person who uses a webcam to broadcast his entire life on a livestream 24/7. Though his fans initially had doubts about Joe Cam after the stream of unsuccessful movie plots, Robert released a trailer for the movie in June, showing over two minutes of footage proving that the movie was indeed in the works. However, because actor Sammie Penrod, the movie's antagonist, had relocated, the film's production was brought to an abrupt halt due to issues of driving distance conflicting with shooting schedules. As a result, Robert would be forced to put another film on hiatus. Robert then resorted to making another film requiring even less to create than Joe Cam, The Fracktaplots. ''This was a sock puppet science fiction film that was released in 2010. The film was heavily criticized by fans for it's premise but the film was somewhat redeemed when it became apparent that Econoline Crush would supply the movie's leading theme song; Surefire. Shortly after, Robert would later make the mistake of changing his website design and company name from "KnoxsKorner.com" to "BadIdeaPictures.com" resulting in many of what was left of his old fan base to revolt and cease to continue following his film career entirely. Robert later ditched "BadIdeaPictures.com" and made the website "TheBenfer.com" as a blog of which he rarely updates and updates only for the purposes of promoting new DVDs. On November 12th, 2012 Robert announced the final episode of Klayworld, to which the internet community responded in outrage. Three days later he followed the news with an in-depth explanation for his decision to end the series. "Shipping Disaster"/anti-Robert Benfer campaign On February 3rd, Robert Benfer uploaded a "last chance to buy" video of the special four disc Golden Klayman bundle titled "LAST DAY of Special Klay World DVD bundle!" In response, Youtube user PsychopathUltimate downloaded the video ad, ripped the audio from the video, extended the audio's length and lowered the pitch to fit the length of his video response "LAST DAY of Special Klay World DVD bullshit ", a video of which took on the bundle ad's attributes from the coloring of the text down the the length of each frame up until the video succeeded the length of the original video. In the video it's revealed that PsychopathUltimate had purchased the bundle in December 4th 2013 and had not received the order, that he resorted to filing a dispute with Paypal on December 30th and that he had gotten a response from Robert on January 2nd 2014 stating that Robert had fallen behind schedule and that he would have the package out by Monday 6th. It is further revealed that Robert had not followed through on his claim as PsychopathUltimate hadn't received his bundle as of the day his video response had been uploaded 3rd. What followed was a photo wherein people claim that they hadn't received their orders as well, the two claims of which come from TheRobertBenferStory, a tumblr page dedicated to Robert Benfer. Following the photo was a proclamation that PsychopathUltimate would refuse removing the video until his bundle had arrived, regardless of the negative responses that he suspected would pour out from Robert's fans. After uploading the file, PsychopathUltimate posted a link to the video on Robert's "Last day" video in the hopes that other potential customers of Robert would see his claim and avoid buying the product. Shortly after, Robert began leaving comments on the video and consistently responded to PsychopathUltimate's replies wherein he claims that someone else was in charge of shipping the products, fell behind schedule and that he'd personally ship out PsychopathUltimate's order. The general response to the video was in the same sentiment as PsychopathUltimate's with other Youtube users claiming that they had also experienced undo delays with their orders. Some among them claimed they'd make videos regarding the matter. Among the few who followed through on their claims were turtlesandthomas and Troy Amadeus. These videos followed the same formula of refusing to take down the video disparaging Robert, exposing his shady business practices and showing comments posted on the internet relating to the shipping delays as PsychopathUltimate's original video. This had the ripple effect of people contacting Robert by E-mail, Twitter and Facebook calling him a scam artist and questioning the whereabouts of their items. The videos created by PsychopathUltimate, turtlesandthomas and Troy Amadeus were spread about Twitter by HollywoodKojima . The video originating the anti-Benfer sentiment was eventually removed two weeks after it was uploaded indicating that PsychopathUltimate had finally received his package. However, on February 25th 2014, PsychopathUltimate uploaded a follow up video revealing that not only was there an item missing from the bundle he received but that he had discovered he had bought a Klay World: Off the Table + Bloody Klayman bundle in June 27th 2012 and never received it. PsychopathUltimate then posted a link to the follow up video on the videos made by Troy Amadeus and turtlesandthomas. When they, among other Youtube users, began posting comments on the follow up video it was revealed that no one other than PsychopathUltimate received their packages despite their videos and persistent Email campaign. Robert was not among those who commented on the follow up video. On March 2nd 2014, Robert posted a video addressing the shipping disaster claiming that the person in charge of handling the orders wasn't able to maintain consistency while shipping out each product and drastically fell behind schedule. He then recommends to anyone who had purchased a product from him that they should forward their Paypal receipt to a new Gmail account named "Benferproblems@gmail.com". On March 4th, Youtube user Troy Amadeus, claiming that his package still hasn't arrived despite his best efforts to contact Robert, proclaimed that he would rip all the content from the Klay World DVD's currently in his possession, upload all of the special feature videos, commentary tracks and Klay World: Off the Table in full length on Youtube as a strike against Robert Benfer. He created a channel, Robber Benfart for this purpose but has only uploaded 3 complaint videos, 2 from external sources and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pijwDwNWoV4 turtlesandthomas'] and one of his own. On June 10th, a new Youtube channel called KnoxProblems uploaded a video titled A Video For Robert Benfer . It was a compilation of many other people's videos and comments regarding the issue. Its creator claimed he sent it to Robert Benfer. Robert has not commented on or acknowledged the video; this is not out of the ordinary for Robert so it is currently unknown whether or not the video has been watched. He created another video, called "Another Video For Robert Benfer", on June 20th. It was basically the same thing as the previous video, except with different complaints. On June 28th, KnoxProblems uploaded a video called "The Knox Project". He stated that he would make one more complaint video before taking "real action" which turned out to be a letter writing campaign aimed at Robert's personal P.O. Box and his Paypal account. He asked anyone who had not received their product from Robert Benfer to send a video listing off the items they ordered and when they ordered it so he can compile it into one video. The deadline was July 6, no such video exists. On October 10th 2016, a new video was uploaded entitled "Klay World now on Blu-Ray! Plus other updates!". He never gets around to saying what said other updates were, and states he forgot near the end. It was unlikely to be related to the hundreds of orders never being fulfilled. Robert disabling the comments suggest this conclusion. It should be noted to be a long time after the fiasco had begun, and there was a large hiatus in between it and his return. He follows this up on December 8th with a new video named "holiday deals video" He records it in what he states is a gas station bathroom. At this point he uploads minimally, one video was uploaded between the October 10th video (which he has removed) and this. After only returning by going live on YouTube mobile, through reuploads, and minimal new content, a new video was released in the still slowly expanding Shipping Disaster Saga. On November 29th, 2017 a video arose relating to another deal. The video in question, titled "JUST FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Order your own Blue Klayman before December 18th!" shows Robert, aimlessly walking around a pipe yard, announcing a once a year offer. He states that you can buy a Blue Klayman until just before Christmas. Comments are disabled, just like the last one, likely for the same reason as well. Discography In addition to producing claymation films, Benfer has also pursued a musical career. He has completed three albums: *Foot Ball! (2008) *Expensive Suit (2009) *Tiny Instruments'' (2009) Before releasing high quality songs to buy on iTunes, Knox would often release the songs for free on his website. The first song that he released that was released with a music video was the song "Yellow Book". Filmography Out Now *Klay World: Off the Table 2005 *Outside the Knox 2006 V - Released as a special feature on the Klay World Series DVD. *The Fracktaplots 2010 *Nick: The Feature Film 2011 *Klay World: All Gone 2013 Cancelled Projects *Lakeside Has No Lake release: 2007 *Joe Cam release: 2008 *Villain release: 2010 Robert as a Character Its not uncommon for Robert to portray himself as a character in his shorts. He is usually a directionless individual who acts on the slighest impulse with tactless fervor. At times he can be selfish and oblivious to other's feelings (Living with Benfer). He has claimed that every night a 2 a.m. he transforms into a creature resembling a Red deer and roams the city. While in this form he searches for his girlfriend who never answers her phone. This has never been brought up again and its validity is unknown (Drawing With Robert). Robert owned and ran Roberts Dollar Store, a business that sells money. It has presumably failed. The fictionalized Robert is also friends with a fictionalized Sammie Penrod. The relationship is often strained by their idiocy (A Tattoo, Robert's Car). Powers and Abilities Transformation: Robert Benfer has mentioned the ability to transform into a Red Deer at 2 AM. He can crawl up large buildings and move around a city quite quickly. Robert Benferhas acute vision in this form, able to see his girlfriend with some guy named Joey. '' ''Adaptability: Robert Benfer can survive in the depths of space, when dropped on the Moon by a Ghost he was clearly capable of speech and seemed like he didn't need to breath, he has also apparently survived being to Mars and has gotten back unaided. '' Quotes *"I feel like a jackass"'' -Drawing With Robert *''"Are you joking me?"'' -Benfer Time: Best Friends Quiz Trivia Facts Between September 1st 2006 and May 30th 2007, Robert Benfer released a video on his website revealing that his computer had been crashed by Limewire. Not knowing how to reinstall Windows XP on his hard drive, Robert resorted to buying a Mac and having the files transferred over from his old hard drive to the new computer. This video, among many others not featured on Youtube, would eventually be lost in the deletion of KnoxsKorner.com. Links * Knox's Metacafe * Knox's Youtube * Knox's IMDB Page * Knox's Myspace * Knox's Facebook * Knox's Cafepress * Knox's Zazzle * Knox's Twitter Category:Animators Category:Film Directors Category:Voice Actors Category:Film Actors Category:People Category:Characters Category:Characters played by Robert Benfer Category:Actors Who Play Themselves Category:Powerrful Characters Category:Powerful Characters Category:Glass Canons